Washington may make an issue of 30,000 Indians overstaying in 2016

The Indians who lawfully entered the US as non-immigrants for business or pleasure reasons indicate that more than one million entered of which 17,763 overstayed.

NEW DELHI: More than 30,000 Indians overstayed in the United States in 2016, according to a new report by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) becoming the latest hobble for Delhi-Washington ties after President Donald Trump tightened norms for Indian H-1B visa holders.

The annual "Entry/Exit" report of DHS provides country-wise data of entry, departure, and overstay of people who came to the US as non-immigrants and were expected to leave the country in 2016.

The report is divided into six segments: temporary workers and families, students, exchange visitors, temporary visitors for pleasure, temporary visitors for business, & other non-immigrant classes of admission. According to the report, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed 50,437,278 in-scope non-immigrant admissions at US air and sea Port of Entries (POEs) who were expected to depart in 2016.

More than 1.4 million Indians who entered the US were supposed to leave in 2016. Of these at least 30,000 are reported to have overstayed. The report also indicated that close to 6,000 Indians left the US in 2016 after reportedly overstaying the time they were allowed while entering.

The Indians who lawfully entered the US as non-immigrants for business or pleasure reasons indicate that more than one million entered of which 17,763 overstayed. At the same time, the overstay numbers for Indian non-immigrant students and exchange visitors touched 4,575, which includes males and females admitted to the United States via air and sea.

The report also says that 339,076 Indians who entered the US in other categories of visa were supposed to depart in 2016 but 8,061 of them overstayed. It said that 2,402 Indians left the US after their visas expired. A 2015 report said of 881,000 Indians who came to the US for business or pleasure, 14,348 of overstayed, including 1,463 who left the US after the expiry of their visas.

Of 50,437,278 non-immigrant admissions, more than 739,478 overstayed, resulting in a total overstay rate of 1.47%. Of 739,000 overstays, DHS determined 628,799 were suspected "in-country" overstays, resulting a suspected in-country overstay rate of 1.25%.

"To protect the American people from those who seek to do us harm and to ensure the integrity of the immigration system, ICE has recently increased overstay enforcement operations. Each year, ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations special agents systematically review approximately one million records of individuals who violate the terms of their visas or the visa waiver program, prioritizing leads that pose a national security or public safety threats," said a DHS press release.

"Out of the total 21.6 million Visa Waiver Program (VWP) visitors expected to depart the United States in FY16, 147,282 overstayed the terms of their admission, with 128,806 suspected in-country overstays (a .60% suspected in-country overstay rate for VWP travelers)," the release added.